Straight-edge and clamp for paper-hangers&#39; use.



Patented Oct. I, l90|-.

F. w. GRUN DEN. STRAIGHT EDGE AND CLAMP FOB PAPER HANGERS USE.-

(Application filed June 3, 1901.)

(No Model.)

' IN VENTOH 1 .fiaiz /7. 692020 6 12 A TTORN 8 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK \VARREN GRUNDEN, OF EMLENTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

STRAIGHT-EDGE AND CLAMP FOR PAPERHANGERS U SE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 683,748, dated October 1, 1901.

Application filed June 3, 1901. Serial No. 62,963. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK \VARREN GRUN- DEN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Emlenton, in the county of Venango and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Straight-Edge and Clamp for Paper-Hangers Use, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to means for holding wall-paper or window-shades in position for trimming their side edges straight and of a desired width, and has for its object to provide a novel simple device which is in itself adapted to clamp one or more sheets of paper and afford a straight-edge that may be readily adjusted to give a wide or narrow margin which is to be trimmed from the paper and also permit the device to be adjusted for guiding a trimming-knife to cut a sloping edge on a sheet of paper when this is desired.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, as is hereinafter described, and defined in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a plan view of the improved straight-edge and clamp. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same with parts folded together. Fig. 3 is a like view showing the straightedge raised. Fig. 4 is an end view of the device seen in the direction of the arrow 00 in Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5 5 in Fig. 3.

The ordinary means for holding wall-paper while it is trimmed at the edge is quite in convenient, being heavy and frequently liable to become'warped, so that work done on it is not always perfect.

This invention affords a light strong device not liable to become unserviceable from exposure to dampness, easily transported by hand from place to place for service, adapted for support by any ordinary table or stand ready for use, and which will clamp a piece of wall-paper or a window-shade so as to expose at one side a margin of any desired width to be out from the paper sheet or shade. Furthermore, the improved straight edge and clamp may be readily adjusted to clamp a paper sheet for trimming it so as to give the trimmed edge any desired slope to fit against an upright wall that is not exactly perpendicular.

In the drawings, 5 represents a table-board, and 6 a level clamping-board, which is also a straight-edge, these parts being main features of the improvement. The table-board 5 is of wood in the form of a thin flat board, having suitable width and length for efficient service, and upon the upper surface, as well as the side edges thereof, a sheet-metal covering 5* is secured by any suitable means, and preferably the thin metal facing 5 is formed of sheet-zinc.

The clamping-board 6 is a level planchet, preferably of light Wood, having reinforcingstrips 6 of metal secured along its side edges, said strips having a width equal to the thickness of the board they are attached to and from their engagement therewith serve to prevent warping of the clamping-board and also provide straight true edges therefor. The length of the clamping-board 6 is nearly equal to that of the table-board 5, and it is connected at the ends to the table-board, so as to be seated fiat thereon or be rocked upwardly by an endwise movement.

The preferred means for connecting the table-board 5 and clamping-board 6 comprises two staple-shaped loops 7 7 of nearly similar form and dimensions, each having like trunnions a formed on the ends, which trunnions are turned inwardly and oppositely, so as to engage with perforations in bracketplates 19, that are affixed upon the side edges of the table-board 5 near its ends. The looped pieces 7 '7, that are in service members of two hinges, have their cross-bars c, that space apart the side bars of the same, each disposed at right angles to the side bars they connect, so that the cross-bars are held to rock on the table-board 5 in parallel planes thereto.

A hinge-leaf 8, having a scroll formation at one end, is secured upon the upper side of the clamping-board 6 so as to have the scroll disposed at the upper corner of the adjacent end of the board and a side edge of the leaf held parallel with and near to one side edge of the clamping-board, said scroll formation 0' having a hinged engagement with the cross-bar c on the hinge-loop 7. At the opposite end of the clamping-board 6 a hinge-leaf 8 is secured thereon, having its side edges respectively alined with the side edges of the hingeleaf 8, and upon said hinge-leaf a depending member is formed, that contacts with the transverse edge of the clamping-board, said depending portion of the hinge-leaf having a scrolleformaiion c thereon, that is loosely secured upon the crossbar c of the hingeloop 7 It will be seen that the upright bars of the hinge-loop 7 are of less length than those of the hinge-loop 7 and that the loose engagement of the scroll formations c on the crossbars a of the hinge-loops, respectively, at the upper and lower corners on the ends of the clamping-board 6, adapts the clamping-board by an endwise movement in the direction of the arrow on to fold fiat upon the table-board 5, as shown in Fig. 2.

At the end of the table-board 5 whereon the hinge-loop 7 is jointed an abutmentpiece 9 is secured, consisting of a transverse wall, which may be formed of sheet metal bent angularly and having such length as to permit the two side bars of the hinge-loop 7 to contact therewith when the said hinge loop is raised and inclines slightly toward the abutment-piece, thereby afiording a support for the hinge-loop and serving to maintain the clamping-board 6 elevated from and parallel with the table-board 5.

The hinge-leaves 8 S have considerably less width than that of the clamping-board 6, and by their jointed connection with the hinge-loops 7 7 are adapted to support said board free to receive sliding adjustment laterally, so as to dispose the leading side edge thereof directly above or adjacent to a corresponding side edge of the table-board 5.

Assuming that the device is seated upon a suitable level support, the operation is as follows: The clamping-board 6 is placed in the position shown in Figs. 3, 4:, and 5, so as to afiord free space over the top surface of the table-board 5. A single sheet of wallpaper cut to proper length for hanging is now introduced between the table board and clamping-board, having a margin thereof projected for trimming the same from the paper sheet. The clamping-board is slid so as to dispose its leading edge above the complementary edge of the table-board, and said clamping-board is then rocked into clamping contact with the paper sheet, which will socure the latter for use of the cutting implement, that may now be passed with a shearing out along the straight edge of the clamping-board, so as to cleanly cut the marginal edge from the paper and produce a true edge on the paper, and this operation is repeated from the other edge. In some cases it may be preferred to paste the paper sheet before trimming, and to successfully cut the paper which has been coated with paste the ends of the same are lapped upon the intermediate pasted surface of the sheet that the marginal edges will be properly registered. The sheet thus prepared is placed between the clamping-board 6 and table-board 5 and smoothed by hand to remove any air-bubbles and wrinkles. The operator now lowers the clampingboard and by manipulating a proper cuttingknife severs the projecting margin of paper from the lapped sheet, the straight edge of the clamping-board affording a guide to enable the operation of trimming the edge of the paper to be conducted in a perfect manner. After one edge of the pasted sheet has been trimmed the sheet is shifted so as to properly dispose the other edge thereof for removal of a margin therefrom. The sheet is then again clamped with the board 6, and the remaining edge is trimmed with the cutting-knife, which will render the paper sheet true on both edges and in condition for immediate hanging upon the wall. As the connections of the scrolled members 0 of the hinge-leaves S 8 with the cross-bars c on the hinge-loops 7 7 are sufficiently loose to permit the adjustment of one member somewhat in advance of the other one, it will be seen that a straight edge of the clamping-board 6 may be given a desired slope as compared with the corresponding edge of the table board 5, and when the sloped edge is clamped upon a paper sheet it will afford a guide for the cutting-knife to sever the margin of the paper sheet, so as to give it a desired slope. It will be seen that if the paper sheet is folded at each end it will so reduce the length to be cut that a proportionate reduction in the length of the improved paper-holding device may be made and the portability of the same correspondingly increased.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A straight-edge and clamp, comprising a table-board, a clamping-board, and hinges near ends of said boards, each hinge having an elongated looped member held to rock on the table-board at its side edges, and loosely secured upon the clamping-board.

2. A straight-edge and clamp, comprising a fiat table-board,a flat clamping-board nearly equal in area with the table-board,both boards having parallel straight edges, and two similar hinges one at each end of the elongated boards, each hinge comprising a hinge-leaf secured on the clamping-board, and an elongated staple-shaped member, the cross-bar of which is loosely engaged with the hingeleaf, and the legs thereof provided with trunnioned ends that are pivoted in perforated plates secured on the edges of the tableboard.

3. A straight-edge and clamp, comprising a flat table-board, a metal facing on the top and true side edges of said board, a clampingboard fiat and true on its edges, facing-strips on the clamping-board to prevent Warping and afford true edges therefor, and two hinges, one at each end of the two boards, each hinge comprising a staple-loop having trunnions on the ends that loosely engage perforated bracketplates on edges of the table-board, and platelike hinge-leaves which have scrolled ends that loosely receive cross-bars of the staplelooped members of said hinges, said hingeleaves being secured on the clamping-board at its opposite ends.

4. In a device of the character described, the hinge connections between the ends of the table-board and the clamping board, comprising hinge-leaves secured on the clampingboard at the ends thereof and having scrolled ends, and complementary hinge-loops, each comprising a cross-bar and two side bars, said side bars having trunnion connection with the table-board, and the cross-bars hinged engagement with the scrolled ends of the hingeleaves 5. In a straight-edge and clamp for trimming paper and the like, the combination with a table-board, a metal facing thereon, and a clamping-board having metal edge strips that prevent warping of said board, of hinges at the ends of said boards adapted to permit an elevation of the clamping-board or its seated contact With the table-board, and an abutment-piece at one end of the tableboard whereon members of one hinge may contact and be supported upright for maintaining the clamping-board in elevated adjustment.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, at Emlenton, Pennsylvania, May 27, 1901.

FRANK WARREN GRUNDEN.

Witnesses: I

H. N. HAMILTON, G. R. EICHBAUM. 

